Holiday Differently: Lessons in Longevity from the Off Season

words LAUREN BAXTER photos STILLS BY DANIEL

Textile artist Noah Johnson has created a new collection in collaboration with Tourism Tasmania that speaks to the joy and playfulness to be found by leaning into the Off Season and taking the road less travelled. Lauren Baxter, as a guest of Tourism Tasmania, spent 24 hours in Hobart to learn more. 

In the dead of winter, at the bottom of the world, 2000 brave souls disrobe and brave the icy cold waters of the River Derwent as the sun rises over Hobart’s Long Beach. 

It’s a tradition that signals the Winter Solstice – when Earth’s southern pole reaches its maximum tilt away from the sun – a time characteristically known in Tassie as the Off Season. Nothing “off” about it, the so-called “quiet state” heats up in the crisp mountain air, producing a hot spot of creatives embracing the wild, weird and wonderful, and looking to make their mark. Now living in Naarm, but born in nipaluna, on the lands of the palawa people, textile artist Noah Johnson is just one who’s been shaped by this unique part of the world.

Learning to sew when he was 15, the keen basketballer was drawn to the craft as a way to alter the clothes he thrifted alongside hand-me-downs to develop a signature style. “It was an opportunity to wear weird, wacky patches and sew on art and typography to make my clothes stand out among other things you would usually buy ready to wear,” Noah says. 

He grew up in Hobart with a single mother, and it was she who gifted him both a sewing machine and an inherent sense (and sensibility) of what it means to live life sustainably.

“She instilled in us to remake, re-use and continuously make use of the things around us – whether that be clothing we wore, the food we ate and purchases we made, or the waste and packaging that came from these things,” Noah says. “It wasn’t even a conversation but something my mum introduced to me and my siblings out of necessity. We just did, as that’s what we could afford. I believe my understanding and appreciation for sustainability has definitely grown and developed from that… and should just be the standard.”  

That standard, however, is nothing new. Acknowledging the rich history of the palawa people, and the dispossession, disempowerment and disruption that came with colonisation, Noah believes “our path to sustainability will always stem from the concepts Aboriginal people have had for tens of thousands of years”. 

It wasn’t even a conversation but something my mum introduced to me and my siblings out of necessity. We just did, as that’s what we could afford.

“In lutruwita, I’ve always understood sustainability to be a way of life. I believe there is a more regenerative and healing way to create, and I was raised to extend the life of items as long as possible and not contribute to the mass production and consumption cycle.”

Utilising those matrilineal sewing skills, inspired by the unpredictability of upcycling and born from the inherent sustainability that comes with “making do”, Noah went on to create his label One of One Archive when he was just 16 years old. “I was a young artist and student and couldn’t afford reams of material, nor did I feel connected to these fabrics – I didn’t know where they came from, how they were made or produced,” he recalls. “I knew that I would only create art that was as sustainable as possible, and so I thought of creating clothes from materials and garments that already existed.”

Off Cuts – his latest collection in partnership with Tourism Tasmania which subverts the broad concept of tourism – sees Noah doing just that. Grounded in impeccable tailoring and timeless craftsmanship, the genderless and handmade collection serves as a reminder that “we can holiday differently”.  

The stories behind each of the secondhand materials used in the Off Cuts collection really come together to tell a new one.

“As I was creating Off Cuts, I started wondering what people think about when they are on holiday or when they come to a new state,” he says. “Why are they there? Why did they buy this cliché piece, and what did it represent for them? You don’t have to look too deep to understand what Off Cuts is about – it’s fun, it’s playful and it’s a literal ‘cut up and piece back together’ of the typical holiday tokens. Unforgettable pieces created out of some really forgettable ones.

“Each piece is unique, and takes inspiration and prompts from the materials used to create them – from beach towels and board shorts to sleeping bags and doonas… The stories behind each of the secondhand materials used in the Off Cuts collection really come together to tell a new one, and this is what I love about upcycling fashion.”

Flipping vintage tea towels into glorious patchworked trousers and tailoring gimmicky shirts into chic boxy outerwear, this cheesy tourist paraphernalia has been reimagined into a winter collection that speaks to what the Off Season in Tasmania is really all about – a state that “comes alive in winter whether it’s through art and culture or food and drink”.  

“We’re playful, fun and funny even, and that’s welcoming and cosy,” Noah enthuses. “It’s that playfulness that really prompted me to design Off Cuts – I wanted to show that winter doesn’t have to be so serious, it can be colourful, ‘out there’ and alive.”

There’s a poetic (and obviously sustainable) intersection between travelling in the Off Season and embracing off-cuts in fashion. Both the travel and fashion industries are by their nature seasonal. But in the dormancy of the Off Season, at the bottom of a pile of remnant fabric, lies a singular magic. It’s a place to seek out meaning, and value, where others might not – something more and more people are finding themselves drawn to as we grow weary of the disposability in our throwaway culture.

Both the travel and fashion industries are by their nature seasonal. But in the dormancy of the Off Season, at the bottom of a pile of remnant fabric, lies a singular magic.

“People need to learn to embrace with less judgement,” Noah says. “I know not everything is everyone’s cup of tea, be it the Off Cuts collection I’ve created with Tourism Tasmania, the colder weather in the Off Season or even lutruwita/Tasmania. I just encourage everyone to inquire into things that other people like because I think it has such high value. You will find, more often than not, we gain enjoyment or interest in things we least expect… I always encourage stepping out of your comfort zone.”

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